The End of Size Zero

If you think you’re fashion forward, you may have heard or seen the war brewing about Size Zero culture.

The term Size Zero culture has been wreaking havoc within the international media since 2007. Despite these public fashion debates, and possible legal action, France hasn’t completely hopped on the bandwagon against the idea of beauty in a smaller package.

These are fat mummies sitting with their bags of crisps in front of the television, saying that thin models are ugly.

Another nudge in the rounder direction is the expansion of the French waistline:

Even if we are nowhere near as overweight as the Americans, more French children are obese, more French men and women are dieting, and more are falling for fad diets that don’t work.”

Despite the reluctance of French fashion, “des mode grandes tailles” may be opening doors for themselves.

Plus-sized fashion has made a mark in the media with the help of photo blogger and plus-sized model Stephanie Zwicky. A Swiss native, Zwicky, is breaking down the size barriers and myths about French women with her site Le Blog de Big Beauty.

Though full-figured women have always been around, the recent spotlight in the fashion industry, for better or worse, is a noticeable change from commonly held beliefs of what is French fashion.

But the entire situation raises a few questions: How big of a divide is there between actual French ideas of size and beauty and what the rest of the world thinks they hold as the ideal or model size? Are we in other cultures part of the problem?